Jacques Villeneuve tells Sergio Perez what he must do in Singapore to make his Red Bull seat safe

Follow us on Google Discover

The conclusion of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix sums up Red Bull driver Sergio Perez’s season in a nutshell.

Red Bull have watched their advantage over the rest of the grid disappear over the past few months.

Oscar Piastri’s second victory of the season confirmed that McLaren had overtaken them in the Constructors’ Championship while Lando Norris somehow managed to finish ahead of a struggling Max Verstappen despite starting from 15^th.

Sergio Perez for the first time this season was the lead Red Bull and was in the race to win his first Grand Prix since Baku last year before disaster struck.

Piastri pulled away from Charles Leclerc in the final laps after his rear tyres went off and Perez sensed an opportunity to move up to 2^nd.

Unfortunately, his poor exit from turn one saw him momentarily slip behind Carlos Sainz and as they looked to pick up a slipstream from the lead Ferrari, they collided and both of their races came to an end.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Sergio Perez’s life outside F1 from net worth to nickname

Before the race, Ted Kravitz and Jacques Villeneuve were discussing the Mexican’s chances of securing his place on the grid for the rest of the season and beyond on Sky Sports F1.

Perez survived a vote of confidence at the beginning of the summer break but the gap between himself and Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship is a cause for concern.

There’s a suggestion that Perez’s position could be reassessed after Singapore although even though he didn’t score points in Baku, his overall pace and advantage over Verstappen will work in his favour.

Villeneuve thinks he’s doing enough, but coming away from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix without scoring a point is a bitter blow.

Jacques Villeneuve gives his verdict on Sergio Perez’s chances of retaining his Red Bull seat

Talking about the difficulties with the current Red Bull, Villeneuve said: “It’s been a difficult car to drive from the first race.

“Now, Max could work around it a little bit and maybe that carried on and they took the development of this car in the wrong direction until he also could not drive it anymore which was the case in Monza with the lower downforce and it made the problems even more apparent.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

“Perez felt vindicated because he’s been complaining early on in the season and now finally, they’ve made changes to the way they’ve been working.”

Villeneuve was then asked by Kravitz whether if Perez does a good job in Baku and Singapore that would save his Red Bull seat for the rest of the season and he said: “They can see that there’s an issue with the car.

“When Max cannot fight for pole, that doesn’t mean he gets pole, but when he’s sixth and he’s unhappy and you can see that there’s a lot of understeer in his car, you cannot drive it the way he wants, that means there is an issue with the car.

“Now Perez is back on his level, if he carries on like this then he should be safe, yes.”

Jolyon Palmer tells Sergio Perez he’s to blame for Azerbaijan Grand Prix crash with Carlos Sainz

Neither Perez nor Sainz wanted to compromise on their run down to turn three with the final position on the podium at stake.

Both drivers didn’t appear to change direction but weren’t running parallel and that caused them to quickly tangle and end up in the wall.

Jolyon Palmer believes Perez was to blame more than Sainz, however, that’s not a verdict shared by senior Red Bull staff.

Helmut Marko believes the emphasis was on Sainz to avoid the accident but the stewards believed it was just a racing incident and neither driver will be punished next time out in Singapore.